Amiuiyfs$*rm'}  Alliaceous  Plants  and  their  Products.  381 
weight  in  silver.  It  is  used  by  wealthy  people  in  Central  India,  and  has  an 
odor  like  a  mixture  of  garlic  and  oil  of  caraway. 
There  are  two  species  of  asafcetida  known  in  India,  namely,  Hing  and 
Hingra.  F.  alliaeea,  Boiss.,  produces  the  first  kind,  that  preferred  as  a  con- 
diment. 
F.  fcelida,  Regel,  produces  Hingra,  the  thick,  opaque  gum  obtained  from  the 
root,  which  is  the  asafcetida  of  European  commerce.  But  with  certain  spe- 
cies of  Ferula  different  systems  of  extraction  and  manipulation,  or  diversified 
conditions  of  climate  and  soil,  may  produce  both  Hing  and  Hingra.  Accord- 
ing to  Dr.  G.  Watt  (Economic  Products  of  India),  it  may,  however,  be  safe  to 
affirm  that  the  bulk  of  the  Persian  drug  imported  into  India  is  the  Hing 
derived  from  F.  alliacea,  but  that  a  considerable  proportion  of  the  Hingra 
comes  also  from  Persia  and  Turkestan.  The  whole  of  the  asafcetida  that  enters 
India  by  the  frontier  land  routes  from  Afghanistan,  is  now  satisfactorily 
proved  to  be  derived  from  F.  foetida.  India  is  the  largest  asafcetida  consuming 
country  in  the  world.  The  imports  in  1888-89  were  10,500  cwt.,  and  about  two- 
thirds  of  these  imports  remain  in  India.  The  shipments  go  entirely  to  the 
United  States,  Australia  and  Mauritius.  Hing  of  good  quality  is  worth  about 
^8  the  cwt.  in  Bombay. 
Asafgetida  is  commonly  used  by  the  natives  of  all  parts  of  India  as  a  condi- 
ment or  flavoring,  and  is  especially  prized  by  the  vegetarian  Hindu  classes  in 
several  of  their  dishes  in  curries  and  as  sauce  for  pillaus  and  especially 
mixed  with  their  rice,  dal  or  pulse,  etc.,  and  is  even  chewed  as  a  luxury.  It  is 
not  an  article  of  general  consumption  in  Afghanistan  itself.  The  fresh  leaves 
of  the  plant,  which  have  the  same  peculiar  odor  as  its  secretion,  when  cooked, 
are  commonly  used  as  a  diet  by  those  near  whose  abode  the  plant  grows.  And 
the  white  inner  part  of  the  stem  of  the  full-grown  plant  is  considered  a  deli- 
cacy, when  roasted  and  flavored  with  salt  and  butter.  Although  the  odors  of 
oil  of  garlic,  oil  of  onions  and  asafcetida  are  similar,  the  latter  contains  no 
trace  of  allyl. 
The  imports  of  asafcetida  into  the  United  States  were,  in  1888,  71,966  lbs.;  in 
1889,  102,379  lbs.,  and  in  1890,  79,689  lbs.  The  medicinal  uses  of  asafcetida  in 
Persia  are  very  numerous.  There  are  people  in  that  country  who  are  so  accus- 
tomed to  its  use  for  nervous  complaints,  that  it  is  like  opium  to  the  opium 
eaters — one  of  the  necessaries  of  life.  Its  excellent  antispasmodic  qualities  are 
too  little  known  and  appreciated  in  Europe.  It  is  a  moderate  nervine  stimu- 
lant, an  efficient  expectorant  and  feeble  laxative,  useful  in  hysterical  and 
spasmodic  affections,  such  as  asthma,  whooping-cough,  angina  pectoris,  flatu- 
lent colic,  etc.  If  taken  daily,  it  is  said  to  prevent  the  attacks  of  malarious 
fever.    In  ringworm  it  is  applied  as  a  paste. 
In  1888,  452  packages  of  asafcetida  came  to  London,  and  in  1890,  931 
packages. 
An  essential  oil,  obtained  from  the  medicinal  drug,  is  dark  brown  in  color, 
of  a  strong  garlic  odor.    Sp.  gr.  0-984. 
Various  species  of  Ferula  are  stated  to  yield  the  galbanum  gum  resin,  but 
it  is  chiefly  referred  to  F.  galbaniflna,  Boissier.  Galbanum  occurs  in  com- 
merce in  two  forms — in  tears  and  in  mass.  Very  little  reaches  London,  20  or 
30  cases  at  most  yearly.  As  an  antispasmodic,  galbanum  is  far  less  powerful 
than  asafcetida,  but  in  its  stimulating  expectorant  properties,  it  is  allied  to 
